Maryland Basketball: How Penn State loss can work to Terps benefit
Maryland Basketball suffered their first Big Ten Conference loss to the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Penn State Nittany Lions Dec. 10. Here are two reasons why it can be a stepping stone to greater things in store.
Fourth-ranked Maryland Basketball needed to lose a game eventually. Before this upset took place, Penn State was blown out by Ohio State, and beat the Alabama Crimson Tide by two.
Six Nittany Lions scored in double figures including Lamar Stevens and Mike Watkins who combined for 30 points, 21 rebounds, and six blocks. As a team, they caused 20 Maryland basketball turnovers, their highest rate this season.
This loss comes at a time where Maryland basketball can regroup, get better and learn from this as conference play becomes more important late in the season.
Maryland basketball played six games in 12 days; Fatigue was a factor in the loss
The Terps came off one of their best stretches of basketball to this point beating Marquette in the Orlando Invitational and the Illinois Illini thanks to the stellar play of Anthony Cowan Jr. Playing at the Bryce Jordan Center, Penn State had their crowd behind them and the added motivation to knock off a ranked team.
The Terps did have a chance to come and possibly win this game after Cowan Jr. cut Penn State’s lead to two points, 52-50, with 11:01 to go in the game. Penn State’s good mix of three-point shooting and paint scoring was ultimately too much to handle for the Terps.
The good news is that they don’t play the Seton Hall Pirates until Thursday, December 19, so they have plenty of time to get rest, treatment and game plan for a Pirates team that may be without Guard Myles Powell (22.9 points per game, 4.6 rebounds per game). In their blowout loss to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, he took a few shots to the head and was ruled out for the rest of the game. He is being evaluated for a concussion.
Maryland had a big turnover problem, better ball movement is the solution
Maryland basketball turning the ball over 20 times in a game is unacceptable. You won’t win games playing that way. It also doesn’t help matters when the opposing team scores 22 points off of those turnovers. Seventeen came in the first half alone. Ball movement is the key to solving their turnover problem. It needs to be fluid like it was on this play for example:
This cross-court pass from Eric Ayala to Jalen Smith leads to a corner three. This shows what happens when the Terps take their time and use their court vision appropriately. Smith was virtually all by himself up until Stevens switched on him late. Penn State pressured the left side of the court well on that play, so credit is deserved in that regard.
Outlook for the rest of the season
After their last two non-conference games against Seton Hall and Bryant to end 2019, They start the new year in the gauntlet of Big Ten play. They will meet Indiana, Ohio State, and Iowa in January’s first 10 days so they will need all of the preparation and rest they can get. This stretch has the potential to determine how Big Ten play will ultimately play out for them. Those three teams have played really good basketball as of late and it’s imperative that the Terps win at least two of those three games.
Big Ten power rankings. dark. Next
They don’t play Michigan State until February 15th and the 29th so Terps fans will have to wait for the highly anticipated matchups between Cowan Jr. and Cassius Winston. The final matchup of 2019-20 season for the Terps will be the Michigan Wolverines led by Head Coach Juan Howard and guard Zavier Simpson. This will be a fitting and exciting conclusion to the regular season for Maryland basketball.